


Buddy System

by orphan_account



Series: One Shots I Came Up With [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Daycare, Kids, M/M, harry with kids, louis with kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-03 01:09:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4080772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis works at a daycare and Harry is the new volunteer. The children just know they're destined to be together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Buddy System

**Author's Note:**

> this is a one shot I wrote a while back because Louis and harry with kids...
> 
> it's just...
> 
> ugh.
> 
> they are my kryptonite.
> 
> anyway, enjoy :)

"You are too cute!" Louis smiled, picking the child up from the play mat and twirling him around while he giggled wildly.

Louis had always loved children. Having four younger sisters may have helped with that but kids were still his life. He babysat as a teenager and now he worked part time at the local day care center down the street from his house. If he hadn't been set on being a drama teacher, he'd be in Uni to become a child care professional of some sort.

But this was fine. He was content just watching the munchkins every weekend. 

"Snack time!" Talia, another worker, called.

Louis set the boy he was holding down and went to the snack area to help Talia set the snacks out.

"I have to leave early today," Talia said as they set everything up. "My mum called and said my sister went into labor last night."

Louis raised an eyebrow. "You can't leave me alone Tal. I love these kids but..."

"You won't be alone, the new volunteer is starting today and you get to train him. He'll be here at two thirty and that's when I'm leaving."

Louis looked at his watch. Thirty minutes until this new volunteer got here. Louis guessed he could handle a new volunteer just so long as Talia didn't leave him completely alone. There were 23 kids here and one of him. He had a feeling the kids would win.

"All right, fine. Leave me here. I'll just cry to myself in the corner during nap time." Louis said, placing a hand on his forehead. Well, he was a drama student.

Talia just rolled her eyes and started handing out juice boxes and goldfish crackers to the kids as they came up.

"Mr. Louis, I need to go potty." a little girl, Maria, said, tugging Louis' pant leg.

Louis knelt down and picked Maria up, placing her on his hip. "Well we'll just have to fix that, won't we? I'll be right back Tal.” He walked out of the room to the bathroom a couple doors away, setting Maria down outside the girls room. "I'll be right out here waiting for you. Don't forget to wash your hands, yeah?"

"I won't Mr. Louis." Maria giggled and went into the bathroom.

Louis pushed his hair from his face and stood up to wait for the little girl to come out. As he waited, he started wondering what this new volunteer was like. Talia said it was a guy which was good because not a lot of men worked or volunteered here. Louis was the only one besides his friends Liam and Niall. It would be nice to get another guy here and not be surrounded by women all the time.

Though maybe that was a personal preference since Louis was gay.

He prefered testoterone over estrogen. Women were just too much to handle. Except like, little women. Like children that he worked with and such.

He really wasn't sure how that took such a weird turn.

"Mr. Louis!" Maria came out of the bathroom waving her hands around. "There aren't any paper towels!"

"No paper towels? Oh no!" Louis kneeled down and held his shirt out to the young girl. "Here use my shirt little one."

Maria giggled and wiped her hands on Louis' shirt. "But now you're all wet."

"I'll dry." Louis stood up and held his hand out to Maria, getting ready to take her in.

"You're really great with her."

Louis jumped and turned around at the sound of the new voice to find a rather attractive boy with curly brown hair and dimples on his cheeks. And wow was he gorgeous. "Er, thanks." Louis smiled.

"I'm Harry, the new volunteer? Um, do you by any chance know a Louis Tomlinson?"

"That's me, actually." Louis said, holding his hand out to Harry. "Pleasure to meet you Harry."

Harry giggled softly and shook Louis' hand, hoping he wasn't the only one who felt the sparks. "You too. I know I'm kind of early but I was afraid I might get lost so..."

"It's no problem." Louis assured. "I'm sure Talia will appreciate getting off a minute or two early. Come on in and I'll let her know she's free."

Harry followed Louis and Maria into the play area where Louis dropped Maria's hand so she could get her snack and went over to who Harry assumed was Talia.

"Tal, you're free to go. Harry's here early."

"Oh!" Talia looked at Harry and smiled. "Thank you so much for doing this for me, it really means a lot."

"Yeah, no problem." Harry said, glancing at Louis. "Good luck."

"Thanks. Bye Louis!" She ran over to the desks and grabbed her purse then ran out the door.

"All right boys and girls!" Louis called, clapping his hands. "Ms. Talia had to leave early so from now on it's me, you and Mr. Harry. Can everyone say hi to Mr. Harry?"

The children all looked at Harry and chimed out a "Hi Mr. Harry!" which made Harry melt a bit. He'd always been such a sucker for children. "Hi kids." Harry smiled, waving at them. He didn't have their attention for long though because they were soon going back to their snacks.

"Very short attention spans, I tell you. The youth of today, I don't really know anymore." Louis chuckled. "So, Harry, how strong are you?"

"Um... I don't know, pretty I guess?"

"Think you could help me get the mats for naptime down?"

"Oh yeah! Definitely!" Harry giggled. "Lead the way."

Louis lead Harry to the rack across the room where they kept the nap time mats. "We'll need all but two. There's tweny-three monsters and twenty-five mats so."

"Wait, only twenty-five? What if you get more than two mre children?"

Louis shook his head. "We can't take in more than twenty-five. There's not enough room, toys or snack money. There's barely enough to twenty-five but we manage. Luckily we only have twenty-three at the moment so things have been a bit easier."

Harry bit his lip and looked down. He didn't like the thought that he might have to turn someone away from the daycare at some point. What would they do with thier kids? Louis was so nice and he seemed like an amazing sitter, Harry couldn't imagine why anyone would want to take their kids to anyone else. It was sad really.

"Harry?"

"Yeah? Sorry." Harry shook his head, getting out of his thoughts.

"Can you get the one's on the top? I'm a tad short."

"Yeah, 'course."

The rest of the day went smoothly. Harry and Louis talked quietly during naptime and got to know each other finding they had a lot in common. They both loved to sing and perform, they were both in Uni, Louis for drama and Harry for music, they even lived in the same appartment building, Louis on the second floor and Harry on the fifth.

"That's insane!" Louis whisper shouted. "I can't believe we've never run into each other before."

"I know. I think I'd remember someone who looked as good as you."

Louis blushed in the dim light of the desk lamp making Harry smiled. "Um are you thirsty or anything?" Louis asked. "There's tea in the lounge. I can get you some."

"Tea sounds good, thanks." Harry nodded. Louis got up and went to the lounge to get the tea.

After nap time, the kids got their hair brushed and combed so they looked nice then they were sent outside to play. "So why do you brush their hair?" Harry asked once all the kids wer outside.

"We want them to always look their best here. It's now we get parents to keep their kids here and not take them somewhere else. Plus it's a pride thing. If our kids look good, we look good."

Harry nodded. That made sense.

At that moment they heard a cry from outside and both ran out to see what the commotion was. When they got out there, a little girl was lying on the ground holding her knee with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh no what happened?" Louis asked, kneeling in front of her.

"I t-tripped." The girl stuttered.

"Let me see." Louis moved the girls hands and found her knee was bleeding. "All right, we need to go get you cleaned up." he picked her up and carried her inside.

Harry almost followed but decided he'd better stay outside and make sure no one else got hurt. He put his hands in his pockets and looked around, watching the kids play and laugh and have fun. As he looked around, he noticed a young boy sitting under the big maple tree all alone, playing with his jumper. Harry frowned and decided he couldn't let someone be alone so he walked over to the boy and kneeled in front of him. "Hi." he said.

The boy looked up. "Hi Mr. Harry."

"Why are you over here all alone?"

"The others make fun of my jumper." her said. "They say it makes me look small because it's too big."

"That's not true." Harry shook his head. "You look perfect and you'll grow into the jumper, promise. What's your name?"

"Collin."

"Collin, it's nice to meet you. Want to hear a knock knock joke?"

Collin nodded, a smiled growing on his face. "I love knock knock jokes."

"Okay I have some good ones. Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"The cow goes."

"The cow goes who?"

"No, the cow goes moo."

Collin laughed, putting his hands over his mouth. "That was funny. Do another!"

"Okay, okay. Um... knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Hoola."

"Hoola who?"

"P." Harry said with a pop. Collin laughed again and clapped his hands chanting 'more, more!'.

Louis walked back out of the daycare then with the girl who scraped her knee and sent her off to her friends then looked around for Harry. When he spotted him under the tree with Collin, he smiled. Collin wasn't really one of the popular kids here. His family was poor and they were barely affording to keep him here. He wore hand me down clothes from his older brother that the other kids made fun of and he never really had anyone to talk to. Louis was glad to see that Harry had found him.

Louis used to alway talk to Collin and play with him but now he had Harry there to watch him and it was great. Collin needed someone like Harry. Full of life and energy, someone who could be there for him.

Louis walked over to Harry and knelt beside him. "I see you made a new friend Collin."

"Mr. Harry is telling me knock knock jokes."

"Is he now? Can I hear one of these knock knock jokes?"

Harry blushed. "They aren't that good..."

"Oh don't be modest. Come on, let's hear one."

"Okay. Knock knock?"

"Who's there?" Louis asked.

"Harry."

"Harry who?"

"Harry's taller than Lou."

"Heeeey." Louis chuckled. "How very rude of you."

Harry grinned and stood up, brushing his pants off.

"Collin!" a litlte girl names Sara called. "Come play with us!"

Collin's eyes went wide at the request. No one had ever asked him to play before. He looked up at Harry and Louis who both nodded then he got up and ran to Sara and her group.

The rest of the day was pretty simple, the kids played in or outside until their parents came and picked them up. Louis and Harry continued to talk until the last kid was checked out and then while they closed up the daycare and while they walked to their cars.

"This was fun." Louis said, stopping at his car.

"Yeah it was. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I guess so." Louis smiled and got into his car and started it. He waved at Harry then pulled out and drove away.

He was really excited for tomorrow.

~~~

The next day Louis got in at 7:30 like usual and found Harry sitting on the bench outside the daycare waiting.

"You're early." Louis said, walking up and unlocking the door.

"I just got here. I would've gone in and started setting up but I don't have a key."

Louis smiled and went inside, Harry close behind. "That's all right. I'll make you one tonight sound good?"

"Perfect." Harry bit his lip and set his water bottle and phone down on the desk. "I'll start getting the chairs down."

"You know, Harry," Louis said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "We should probably trade numbers. You know, just in case you need to trade a shift or something like that.

"Oh, yeah. That's probably not a bad idea." he grabbed his phone and unlocked it then handed it to Louis. Louis handed his over and they put each others numbers into their phones.

"Who's Gemma?" Louis asked. "Girlfriend?"

"Ew!" Harry wrinkled his nose. "She's my sister. Ew, ew, ew. I'm officially grossed out. Why are you looking through your contacts?"

"I dunno, seemed like a good idea. Your sister is pretty."

"You can't date her."

Louis laughed. "I like dick so."

Harry seemed to perk up a bit at that. "Really? So do I. I mean... I wouldn't say it in those exact words but I mean I do like men, men are good and strong and healthy you know?"

Louis handed Harry his phone back and Harry gave Louis his. "You were going to put the chairs down?"

"Right, yes. Chairs." Harry put his phone on the desk and walked over to the tables and started putting the chairs down. Louis watched him, smiling. Harry really was pretty. Not just in looks, he had a great personality too. He was charming and sweet and he rambled a lot but it was cute.

The kids started showing up at eight like every morning, all a bit tired and grouchy but waking up a bit when other kids started showing up and toys were brought out. Once all the kids were there it was time to start setting up activities.

"Harry can you go get three movies from the other room for movie time?"

Harry nodded and walked away, Louis watching as he did. When he looked away he found a few kids staring at him. "What?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. They just giggled and went back to what they were doing.

While Harry was in picking the movies, a little girl came back and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped and turned around. "What are you doing in here? You're suppose to be playing."

"Mr. Harry do you like Mr. Louis?"

"Uh... yes. He's very nice."

"Do you love Mr. Louis?"

Harry choked a bit. "Excuse me?"

"Are you and Mr. Louis dating?"

"No we're not dating! We just met! What gave you that idea?"

"You should go on a date with Mr. Louis."

Harry rubbed his temples. "Please go back and play. I'll be out in a minute."

The girl shrugged her shoulders and walked back out to the play room where she walked up to Louis and tugged on his arm. "Mr. Louis, Mr. Harry needs you."

"Oh, okay. Thank you Cassie." Louis walked back into the movie room and found Harry crouched in front of the movie shelf. "You needed me?"

Harry jumped up and looked at Louis. "Jeeze Louise, what is with everyone scaring me today?"

Louis chuckled and moved closer. "Cassie said you needed me for something."

"What? I don't need you. I'm just picking a third movie. I'm debating between Princess and the Frog and Frozen."

"Princess and the Frog. They always watch Frozen. It's just a personal preferance that we stop watching Frozen."

Harry laughed and grabbed Princess and the Frog. "This it is then."

"What else did you pick?"

"Betoven and Anastasia. I hope they pick Anastasia. I haven't seen it in forever."

"But Betoven is great. I want that dog."

"We all do." Harry and Louis laughed then walked back out to the playroom where all the kids were gathered around a table. "What are they doing?" Harry asked.

"I'm not sure. Kids!" Louis called, getting their attention. "What's going on?"

Cassie stepped up and held her hands out to Harry and Louis. "Please follow me to your table."

Harry and Louis looked at each other then took Cassie's hand and let her lead them to the table all the kids had been around that held two napkins with a pile of goldfish on each and two juice boxes. "What is all this?" Louis asked.

"It's a date for you and Mr. Harry." Cassie said. "Now eat your goldfish." she walked away, sittiing down on the floor with the other kids across the room.

"A date?" Harry asked, sitting down in the way too smell chair, his knee to his chest.

Louis sat down across him him, his knees alway going to his chest. "I guess so. Apparently they like us together."

"Apparently."

"I like us together." Louis said, eating a goldfish.

"Oh yeah?" Harry opened his juice box and took a drink.

"Yeah. I mean, I know we just met yesterday and all, but, like, I kind of... like you. You're sweet and kind and funny and you're great with the kids and... I mean you're not bad looking."

Harry laughed then covered his mouth. "You're not half bad yourself Mr. Louis."

"Babe, please, not in front of the kids." they laughed and ate their goldfish. "You know, as fun as this is, I think we should go on a real date where we don't have the monsters watching us and we can talk about adult things like cooking and not living with mummy and daddy."

"You really want to take me on a date?" Harry asked. "A real date?"

"Yeah. Do I need to relist all the reasons why I like you?"

"No I got them the first time. I'd love to go on a date with you."

"Tonight?"

"I'm free."

"Not anymore."

The two clunked their juice boxes together then burst into laughter. "This will be so much nicer with some wine or something." Louis said.

"Hey, they tried." Harry laughed. "I give them props for trying."

Louis glanced over at the kids then leaned closer to Harry and whispered, "They're still watching. I feel like their waiting for that part in a movie where your otp shares that first magical kiss and it's just so nice you can practically see the little fireworks."

"I've always been a sap for that part of the movie." Harry whispered back. "How's this though?" he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Louis' cheek, making him blush and the kids giggle.

"That was good." Louis nodded. "I enjoyed that."

"Good. See any fireworks?"

"Anything is possible."

They smiled dorkily at each other for a minute then stood up, both their legs going numb from how they had been sitting. "All right kids." Louis said, "That was fun but now it's movie time. Go into the movie room and pick one of the three movies Mr. Harry set out for you."

Harry smiled and looked over at Louis. Louis looked back and smiled. "Come on, lets go watch a movie."

~~~

Their date was fantastic. Louis picked Harry up at seven sharp, both dressed up in their nicest clothes. They held hands as they walked to the restaraunt, making small talk and smiling happily at each other.

At the restaraunt Harry order the spagheti and Louis ordered the shrimp ravioli and they shared. Louis fed Harry a piece of the ravioli (which was probably the best thing he'd ever eaten) and Harry fed him some spagheti, very messily. They had wine and toasted to them and their date and the kids for setting them up and clinked their classes and it sounded so much better than the juice boxes from earlier.

After they finished dinner, Louis paid and Harry left the tip and they left. They walked around town for a bit, hand in hand, then made their way back to their appartment building. Harry offered to walk Louis to his apartment since Louis had picked him up and he agreed. They stood outside the door awkwardly for a few seconds saying they had a good night and all that good stuff.

Then, before Harry left, he leaned forward and kissed Louis.

No warning for either him or Louis, it just happened. Harry got the urge to kiss Louis so he did. And the best part was that Louis kissed back.

It wasn't a long kiss, but it was a kiss none the less. And when they pulled apart, they were both smiling. "That was great." Louis said.

"Yeah, it was." Harry cleared his throat and took a step back. "Thank you for the wonderful evening. We should do this again."

"Yeah we should." Louis nodded and unlocked the door to his apartment.

Harry nodded and stuck his hands in his pocket. "Okay, um, I'll call you then?"

"I'll be waiting." Louis smiled and went into his place. "Good night Harry."

"Night Louis."

The next day Louis arrived at the daycare at 7:30 and found the door open. It was strange because he wasn't working with Harry today and Talia never got there before him. But when he went inside, he found Harry sitting at the desk with an envolope in his hand.

"Harry? You're not working today."

Harry looked up and smiled. "I know. But I wanted to stop by and give you something. I used the key you gave me last night to get in."

"Just couldn't stay away from me, hm?" Louis asked, setting his bag down. "What's up?"

"I want to give you this." Harry handed the envolope to Louis who took it and furrowed his eyebrows.

"What's this?"

"Open it."

Louis turned the envolope over and tore it open, pulling out a check for $15,000 signed by Harry Edward Styles. "Oh my God." Louis said, turnign the check over in his hand. "Is this real?"

"As real as they come." Harry nodded.

"Oh my God. Harry..." Louis put his hand over his mouth, tears forming in his eyes. "I can't accept this."

"I want you to. I need you to. You have to put it towards the daycare, make it bigger and buy more toys and snacks. Get more kids in here."

Louis sobbed and looked at the check. $15,000. "Harry it's so much."

"Please take it Louis. I'm begging you."

Louis laid the check on the desk and gave Harry a hug. "Thank you, thank you so much. This means the world to me. Oh my God thank you. God bless you for what you've done."

Harry smiled and rubbed Louis' back. "It's the least I could do. I want you to get business and have more money to accept more kids to get that business. I want you to be happy Louis."

"I am happy. I'm so, so happy. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Harry kissed Louis' head. "Now, I should go. You have a daycare to open."

"Thank you." Louis said again as Harry stood up. They kissed then Harry grabbed his phone and keys and left.

Using the $15,000 Louis was able to expand the daycare and take in more kids. Harry got a part time job there so he wasn't just a volunteer anymore and they worked together to make the daycare all it could be.

And now, two years later, they've both graduated from Uni but neither actually used their degree. Instead, they bought the daycare building and made it their own. They repainted, replaced things, got a new telly and expanded it even more. They called it H&L Daycare Center and ran it together. They kept Talia on their team as well as Niall and Liam and even hired a few new people to help.

They may not have done what their degrees said they could, but they were living their true dream.

And they were happy.

"I lovey you Lou."

"I love you too."

 

_FIN_

**Author's Note:**

> twitter: @boyfriendswut and @tbfhwithu  
> tumblr: youareanuisance
> 
> hope you enjoyed this one shot :D let me know what you thought by commenting! thanks for reading!


End file.
